Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race

Page: 26

(After Sir J. Simpson)

Another singular emblem, upon the meaning of which
no light has yet been thrown, occurs frequently in connexion
with megalithic monuments. The accompanying
illustrations show examples of it. Cup-shaped
hollows are made in the surface of the stone, these are
often surrounded with concentric rings, and from the
cup one or more radial lines are drawn to a point outside
the circumference of the rings. Occasionally a
system of cups are joined by these lines, but more frequently
they end a little way outside the widest of the
rings. These strange markings are found in Great
Britain and Ireland, in Brittany, and at various places in
[pg 68]
India, where they are called mahadéos.42 I have also
found a curious example—for such it appears to be—in
Dupaix' “Monuments of New Spain.” It is reproduced
in Lord Kingsborough's “Antiquities of Mexico,”
vol. iv. On the circular top of a cylindrical stone,
known as the “Triumphal Stone,” is carved a central
cup, with nine concentric circles round it, and a duct or
channel cut straight from the cup through all the
circles to the rim. Except that the design here is richly
decorated and accurately drawn, it closely resembles a
typical European cup-and-ring marking. That these
markings mean something, and that, wherever they are
found, they mean the same thing, can hardly be doubted,
but what that meaning is remains yet a puzzle to antiquarians.
The guess may perhaps be hazarded that
they are diagrams or plans of a megalithic sepulchre.
The central hollow represents the actual burial-place.
The circles are the standing stones, fosses, and ramparts
which often surrounded it; and the line or duct drawn
from the centre outwards represents the subterranean
approach to the sepulchre. The apparent “avenue”
intention of the duct is clearly brought out in the
varieties given below, which I take from Simpson. As
the sepulchre was also a
holy place or shrine, the
occurrence of a representation
of it among other
carvings of a sacred character
is natural enough; it
would seem symbolically
to indicate that the place
was holy ground. How far this suggestion might
apply to the Mexican example I am unable to
say.